DIY Wall Bed (Murphy Bed)

Expecting our second child, my wife and I decided to do away with our guest bedroom and combine it with our office. The only problem was our queen bed took up way too much space and it didn't get enough use to justify the sacrifice. We looked at the wall bed options available for purchase and decided they were way too blah and very expensive. Enter DIY. Using cheap pine boards, plywood, door hinges, vinyl upholstery, magnets and stain I constructed the wall bed you see here. It really wasn't that difficult but facing it took the most time. To give the boards a more rustic look I used a utility knife to shave off the corners and stained them with a water based stain and a water based white wash. When this started we thought we were going to have to settle for something unattractive and less than desirable. Seeing it in our office now, we love our new bed and actually think it makes the room look much better!

I got the inspiration for it from some plans on Ana White's site (http://ana-white.com/2010/03/plans-a-murphy-bed-you-can-build-and-afford-to-build.html) but just winged it from there. Making an adjustment for the differences in a standard twin vs. standard queen seemed to work well for me.